California Tacos

We’ve lived in the Valley since the 90’s — and this is THE… BEST… MEXICAN… FOOD… WE’VE… EVER… HAD!!! I don’t know where to start — be patient with me. First of all, they serve lingua — the only place I’ve seen, and it is to die for — tender and flavorful! Try ANYTHING with carnitas: burritos, tacos (with those amazing homemade tortillas), chimichanga, the Johnny Special, tostadas… you will love it. Oh my goodness — have the steak nachos! Truly — GO — you will be happy. They have great beer on tap (Figueroa, 805, Modelo, XX) and an excellent variety of soft drinks (and horchata, of course). Are you there yet?

The best tacos in the SYV!
I usually get the hard shell tacos with tri tip. Now this place has a soda machine with 100 sodas. I’m in love! They also have a ton of salsas and sauces that I’ve only seen here. So good! I highly recommend!

Sad to say our latest experience at California Tacos was not the best.
We used their new online ordering system which was bare-​bones and included next to no information about the menu items besides the names. I would like to say this is just an issue with the website, but the take-​out menu is the same way. This would of course be fine if all the item names were descriptive but not all of them are. This leads to confusing things like «Cali Nachos» on the menu actually being carne asada fries.
Another thing that happened was a general lack of communication on the part of the staff. Despite being given a phone number to contact me, they did not inform me they were out of ceviche until I actually arrived to pick up my order. As a result, the rest of my order sat while they made items to replace them, resulting in the loss of quality in the food I had already ordered. This was something that could have been easily preventable if the restaurant had just called me before they fired my order and told me they had no ceviche!
I really hope this place takes these criticisms to heart, this place has the potential to be great!

Friendly staff, good salsas, outstanding rice. Not the best I’ve ever had but definitely a good, solid choice. The restaurant is quaint and cute and I’d definitely come back the next time I in solvang.

On a day trip to Solvang I checked out Unilocal for a place to eat Mexican food and saw California Tacos. Only 3 miles from Solvang! Who doesn’t love a good taco? I ordered asada tacos with rice and beans, and was very happy! Authentic mexican food! Great salsa! Everyone was nice and the place is very welcoming! I now have a new favorite place to eat when we go to Solvang or Chumash!

Awesome mexican food, definitely check it out! Portions are generous. Taste is exquisite, the chef even comes out to ask you how it is. A place that actually cares about their quality!

Had the Chile Relleno & Carnitas Enchilada Combo with Chips & Salsa. Was outstanding! Very piquant & bright flavors with noticeably high quality fresh ingredients. Never before had such a light & crispy Relleno. Chef Jose visited our table outside to be certain we were enjoying our meal. What a nice guy! Wish I lived on the area so I could come here frequently.

Great great great :) great customer service+great food (enchiladas was so delicious)+ great prices.

3 words: amazing, amazing, amazing! Best chips and salsa I have ever had! And I am a Mexican food lover! Great enchiladas and guacamole too. I’m adding this to my list any time I’m even remotely close to the area!!!

Good honest tacos. Pork was tasty house made tortillas were a bonus. Will definitely give this place another try!

So far this place is better than the 1^st visit. The new hostress/​cashier is friendly and helpful. Ordered some enchiladas for the birthday girl and flautas for me.
The flautas look great. Flaky fried flour tortillas filled with chicken and cheese and red peppers. My order came with 3 which were topped with lettuce… cream…cheese and pico de gallo.
The 1^st bite was the best as everything was crispy and the pico de gallo cheese and cream were great. Afterwards they were less than great. The pico made them soggy fast. The filling was very bland and dry. They were cold and the lettuce threw me off.
The report on the enchiladas was not as kind.
The only highlight was their homemade corn chips. They were thick and crunchy and had a good corn taste to them.

Best place to eat while in Solvang! Fantastic homemade food. My family loves their taquitos de deshebrar, their asada, and their nachos. Give it a try today!

GREAT food!!! Fresh, authentic & delicious! We really love the chicken flautas they’re very filling and 2 come with a drink for only $ 6. Thanks for making our time in Solvang that much better!

Been here a few times. Solid food. Always friendly/​quick service. Nice variety of menu options. Place is clean & casual, but quaint. Love their fajita bowl & especially their creamy green sauce (don’t know the name of it). This is our go to Mexican restaurant here in the valley.

We took a family trip to Solvang and the surrounding area for 5 days and 4 nights and, in that entire time, the meal I had at California Tacos was my favorite. A casual dining atmosphere with food that tastes good, in portions that fill you up, and at a good price — the perfect combination of qualities that I look for in a restaurant. In addition, the service was very good. The server who was running the cash register was also the server who helped at the tables. She was friendly and smiling without seeming falsely or overly nice. She was very attentive and anticipated any needs that we had. She quickly saw when my daughter spilled her water on the table and immediately came over with a rag to help us clean it up. I give the food 4 stars (very good, but not mind-​blowing), but the overall experience 5 stars. :)

Great family atmosphere. Great food, reasonable prices. We had the tacos, chili rellenos, a chimichanga, and two burritos. They were some of the best tacos we ever had. The cheese enchilada was fantastic, but the chili relleno was a little on the greasy side.
The staff is super friendly. I would definitely go there again.

My husband and I were visiting from Los Angeles and we decided to give this taco shop a try after reading good reviews on Unilocal.We split the California Burrito with a side of chips. Coming from living in San Diego for several years, we have had our fair share of quality taco shops so we were definitely hesitant. It definitely was more than enough for the two of us and we were more than satisfied. The quality of meat was good and did not chew any pieces of fat in the meat. Also the beans were delicious. If we come back to the area and want an affordable meal, we will definitely come here.

Let me first explain why I’m giving them 2 stars:
If I were going to rate the food alone, I would give them 3. But I felt the food was overpriced, so that knocks it down to 2, and the service was AWFUL, which would bump it to 1. But their salsa bar was pretty great, so I’m giving a full star just for that.
My boyfriend and I just moved to Solvang from San Diego, so trust me, I know good Mexican food when I see it. I know it even better once it’s in my mouth. California Tacos is passable. Not exactly the fabulous cuisine I grew up on, but it’ll do. Or so I thought.
I ordered a burrito, and my family, who had spent all day hauling furniture into our 2^nd story apartment, ordered various other things including tacos, enchiladas, other burritos, etc. We were literally the only people in the place. And the food took forever. We were all so hungry, and Mexican food seemed like a quick, cheap, and delicious option. It wasn’t.
The food FINALLY arrived at our table, and each plate came with «a serving» of chips. If you’re a small rodent. It was like they reached into the very bottom of an almost empty bag of chips and gave us each a few pinches of what was left. We maybe each had 2 or 3 whole chips, intermixed with lots of crumbs and a few broken pieces. Enough for everyone have a little salty mouthful. When my adorable and very polite mom approached the counter, and waited for what seemed like forever for the girl and guy behind it to stop flirting with each other and acknowledge her, she asked for more, and pointed out how small and sad the serving was. She was answered with a very rude, «that’s just how it is. If you want more, you have to pay for them.»
I’ve craved Mexican food so many times in the few months we’ve lived here, but I just can’t bring myself to go back. I’d rather drive further for some place where I can be sure that I’ll get my money’s worth, and wont have to sit and wonder what the world is coming to when customer service like that is just acceptable.

25 MINUTES LATER FINALLY GOT FOOD!!!
Did NOT grant the Unilocal advertised Offer???
Rude people!
not great service refused to offer things that most mexican restaurants order.
not recommended :(
good is taking forever!!! omg!!!
i have been here for a while now and food is still not here?!

This was such a great place to stop for a quick bite to eat. They have a whole wall of menu items to choose from, and everything is so inexpensive one would be tempted to try everything. I got the combo plate of chicken tacos and rice and beans — with the Unilocal check-​in discount, it came to about $ 4. Such a good deal, and so delicious!